1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for choosing a bearer from a plurality of bearers for the purpose of exchanging content between a server and a wireless device, is based on the use of a cost function and is exchanged between the server and the wireless device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Existing wireless devices typically have one wireless bearer over which data transfer takes place. Examples include, but are not limited to, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution-Data only (EVDO), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WIMAX), 3rd Generation Partnership Project Long Term Evolution (3GPP-LTE or LTE), etc. For content exchange, devices are configured to provide access to the network using the available bearer. Since there is only one bearer, the data transfer takes place over this bearer provided the bearer is configured properly.
However, there are devices that are appearing in the market that support multiple bearers. These dual-mode, tri-mode and even multi-mode devices support two, three and multiple bearers, and the user can choose one among the many bearers for initiating data transfer. Examples include, but not limited to are GPRS and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN or Wi-Fi); WiMAX and WLAN; WiMAX and EVDO; WiMAX, WLAN, and EVDO; WLAN, Bluetooth, and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) etc. In general, any combination of bearer technologies can be supported in a device. Existing techniques include manually prioritizing the choices through a user interface or a configuration manager. The problem is one of choosing the right bearer for initiating data transfer.
Manually selecting a bearer for a particular data transfer is not desirable and requires some amount of knowledge about the each of the bearer characteristics. Instead, a need arises for a technique by which a bearer may be automatically chosen from among a plurality of bearers. Similarly, when a server wants to transfer content to the wireless device, it also needs to know the bearer to use.
Thus, there is a need to provide a mechanism by which a bearer, from among a set of available bearers, can be automatically selected by the device or the server to initiate a data transfer.